Parliament Question: Ground inspection of JMM works

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF DRINKING WATER & SANITATION RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *242 ANSWERED ON 16/03/2026 GROUND INSPECTION OF JMM WORKS *242. SHRI PRAMOD TIWARI: Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state: (a) the details of households provided access to potable tap water connections since 2022 under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and the percentage it constitutes of rural population; (b) whether the JMM in the past has been marred with irregularities; (c) if so, the details thereof; and (d) the steps taken by Government for ground inspection of the JMM works? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF JAL SHAKTI (SHRI C R PATIL) (a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the table of the House. Page 1 of 4Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (d) in respect of Rajya Sabha Starred Question No. *242 for reply on 16.03.2026 regarding Ground Inspection of JMM works asked by Shri Pramod Tiwari (a) Since August 2019, Government of India is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal, in partnership with States/ UTs, to make provision of safe and adequate tap water connection to every rural household of the country. As reported by States/UTs on JJM IMIS, more than 8.53 crore rural households have been provided with tap water connections since financial year 2021-22, which constitutes about 44% of the total rural households in the country. Thus, as on date the overall coverage of rural households with tap water connections has increased from 3.23 crore (16.72%) in 2019 to 15.82 crore (81.74%). (b) & (c) As per the data reported by all States/ UTs, a total of 18,790 complaints have been received by States/ UTs from different sources such as media reports, suo-moto cognizance, references from public representatives, citizens, grievance portal, etc. regarding financial irregularities and poor quality of works under JJM. States/ UTs have also reported that action has been taken against 635 Departmental Officials, 1,020 contractors, and 155 Third Party Inspection Agencies (TPIAs). The State-wise details of complaints received and action taken against officials, contractors and third-party agencies are annexed. Furthermore, States/ UTs have been repeatedly advised to adopt a zero-tolerance approach toward any financial, procedural, or quality-related violations. All States/ UTs have been advised to ensure that every complaint is duly examined, field verification is carried out promptly and all required disciplinary, contractual, and legal actions are taken without exception to uphold transparency and accountability of the mission. (d) To ensure the successful implementation of JJM, Government of India has been regularly reviewing the implementation with respective State Governments through review meetings and visits of multi-disciplinary teams to highlight the areas to strengthen implementation and monitoring of the mission. Further, several initiatives have been undertaken to strengthen the monitoring mechanism under JJM through ground inspection of water supply schemes, are as under: i.) States have been conducting monthly inspections of four schemes each, assigned by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), to strengthen field-level oversight. State-level teams inspect the schemes to assess the quality of construction, adherence to timelines, availability of services, and resolution of issues and submit their reports on JJM –IMIS. ii.) Central Nodal Officers were appointed by Government of India for ground truthing of JJM schemes and the reports submitted by them have been shared with States/ UTs for necessary corrective measures. iii.) Ground verification has been enhanced by strengthening the monitoring framework for National WASH Experts (NWEs) through a revised and comprehensive checklist emphasizing quality of execution, along with a revised Terms of Reference (ToR) for TPIs to ensure effective supervision. Page 2 of 4iv.) Central Prabhari Officers (CPOs) for Aspirational Blocks and Aspirational districts have also been sensitized to review rural piped water supply schemes under JJM during their field visits and have been provided with a digital reporting mechanism. v.) Under Jal Seva Adhyan, a recent initiative of Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, in collaboration with All India Council of Technical Evaluation, engineering students under the guidance of technical mentors have undertaken assessment of piped water supply schemes and share their observations with the Department. vi.) Jal Seva Aankalan is a digital tool enabling community-led self-review process and ground verification process, through which villages assess the performance of their piped water supply systems on parameters such as regularity, adequacy, quality and system maintenance, thus fostering Jan Bhagidari. vii.) IT monitoring architecture has also been expanded. Apart from State-level access, District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) officials and Gram Panchayat-level functionaries are being onboarded onto the IMIS, enabling decentralized monitoring and improved grassroots-level oversight. ***** Page 3 of 4Annexure Annexure referred in the reply to part (b) & (c) of Rajya Sabha Starred question no.242 answered on 16.03.2026 No. of No. of TPIA No. of Dept. contractors against Total no. of officials against against Sr.no. State/UT whom action complaints whom action whom action has been taken has been taken taken 1 A & N Islands 0 0 0 0 2 Andhra Pradesh 0 0 0 0 3 Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 4 Assam 1226 17 3 3 5 Bihar 0 0 0 0 6 Chhattisgarh 329 2 11 1 7 DD&DNH 0 0 0 0 8 Goa 0 0 0 0 9 Gujarat 1 12 112 0 10 Haryana 4 0 0 0 11 Himachal Pradesh 3 0 0 0 12 Jammu & Kashmir 24 0 0 0 13 Jharkhand 152 24 4 3 14 Karnataka 169 7 99 1 15 Kerala 25 1 1 0 16 Ladakh 1 1 0 0 17 Lakshadweep 0 0 0 0 18 Madhya Pradesh 37 151 9 0 19 Maharashtra 154 1 5 0 20 Manipur 19 4 39 0 21 Meghalaya 8 3 0 0 22 Mizoram 1 0 0 0 23 Nagaland 14 6 0 0 24 Odisha 4 0 1 0 25 Puducherry 0 0 0 0 26 Punjab 6 0 0 0 27 Rajasthan 176 170 53 2 28 Sikkim 0 0 0 0 29 Tamil Nadu 45 5 2 0 30 Telangana 0 0 0 0 31 Tripura 1 0 388 0 32 Uttar Pradesh 16178 196 120 145 33 Uttarakhand 40 35 0 0 34 West Bengal 173 0 173 0 Total 18,790 635 1,020 155 Page 4 of 4